Plenty left over from 2006 for South Bend school board

ANALYSIS Facilities, student achievement carry into new year.

ANALYSIS Facilities, student achievement carry into new year.

January 08, 2007|MICHAEL WANBAUGH Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- The arrival of a new year certainly hasn't cleaned the South Bend Community School Corp.'s slate. Many of 2007's looming issues have cluttered its blackboard for a long time. Line items waiting for checks of accomplishment next to them include developing a vocational education plan, addressing facility needs at several schools, negotiating a contract with teachers and improving student achievement. Progress over the next 12 months will require a commitment to convert those issues etched in chalk to solutions written in ink. The new year for the corporation begins at 5:30 p.m. today as trustees meet for the first time this year in the Administration Building, 215 S. St. Joseph St. Below are a few things to watch for in 2007: Board relations Before November's election, there was an obvious divide between the seven-member board. With all three incumbents winning re-election -- Marcia Hummel, Ralph Pieniazkiewicz and Sheila Bergeron -- that chasm didn't exactly narrow. While differing perspectives can be healthy in such a democracy, they can also prove debilitating. Finding a way to compromise will be paramount for this board if it ever plans to stop talking and start walking. Without compromise, this board won't go anywhere fast. There have been glimpses of compromise over the past 12 months. In December 2005 the board overcame disagreement to approve a school uniform policy. This past June it came together in time to hire a new superintendent. Much of the year, however, was spent bickering about a proposed facility plan. Right or wrong, neither camp budged, and the plan was set aside for another day. Facility plan This year is another day. Two buildings remain top priorities for the corporation. They are Marquette and Monroe primary centers. Marquette turns 71 in 2007 and hasn't had significant renovations since President Dwight Eisenhower took office in 1953. Monroe will celebrate its 75th birthday. It too hasn't experienced a major renovation since the '50s. Feasibility studies have been initiated to identify the specific needs at each site. The corporation must then determine how these two districts and buildings will mesh with future growth, racial compliance and school program. Marquette is currently being considered as a Montessori magnet school. Would such a plan require a new building, or will renovations and additions suffice? Or would a different location be more suitable? Does the community even want a Montessori? These questions surfaced as hiccups of last year's proposed facility plan, mainly from trustees who felt the plan was being forced down their throats. That plan was a $33.2 million helping that some board members wanted cut into smaller bites. New Superintendent Robert L. Zimmerman must either find the seasonings to make last year's facility recipe more appetizing to the board, or start from scratch. Student achievement This is where everything comes together. A school corporation can have the best facilities, best teachers and best programs, but if its students aren't achieving, it's in trouble. As with most urban districts, socioeconomics remains the corporation's most obvious challenge. More than 60 percent of South Bend's 21,000 students qualify for free or reduced lunches from the state. About a quarter of its students are in special education programs. Less than 60 percent of its students tested last year passed either the English/language arts or mathematics portion of the ISTEP test. It's also estimated that the corporation's graduation rate is close to 50 percent, although recent Indiana Department of Education calculations put it at around 70 percent. Federal and state consequences for not passing the ISTEP are increasing by the year. For that matter, so are the consequences for the community if so many students are failing to graduate. Teachers contract The current teachers contract will expire on Aug. 15. Negotiations between the corporation and the National Education Association-South Bend will take place over the next several months. This will be Zimmerman's first teachers contract negotiation since he succeeded former Superintendent Joan Raymond. Teacher contracts are usually re-negotiated every two years. It could easily be the most significant repair job Zimmerman faces since he was welcomed to the neighborhood back in October. The last negotiation in 2005 was tense. Facing a nearly $4 million budget shortage, Raymond informed about 400 teachers their jobs may be eliminated. It was a move that angered many teachers and that the union felt was a bargaining ploy and unnecessary. Ultimately, teachers agreed to annual 1 percent raises, and Raymond declared the budget crisis fixed. While funding remains a perennial challenge for school corporations, many South Bend teachers feel they took one for the team last at bat and want to swing this time up. NEA-South Bend President Carolyn Peterson and Uni-Serv Director Mary Ann Zimmerman -- no relation to the superintendent -- worry that the 2007 budget won't be able to absorb additional pay increases for teachers. Voc-ed plan A lyric from one of Bob Dylan's best-known songs certainly seems to apply to the current school board. "We always did feel the same," Dylan wrote and sang in "Tangled Up and Blue," "we just saw it from a different point of view." That seems a fair articulation of how trustees have treated vocational education. All seven agree that corporation students should have vocational options. They agree that it would likely increase graduation rates and improve student behavior. They can't agree on how to go about it. Some trustees want the corporation to develop its own career center, similar to what Elkhart Community Schools have. Other trustees want to instead partner with Ivy Tech Community College to avoid duplicating services. As with other corporation hot spots, Zimmerman has hinted at exploring the middle ground, an oasis this board hasn't stumbled across too often. Zimmerman's navigation skills will certainly be tested in 2007 as he attempts to steer the corporation toward progress and away from the traffic jams of its past.Staff writer Michael Wanbaugh: mwanbaugh@sbtinfo.com (574) 235-6176